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Pope Francis stunned a live audience in St. Peter’s Square Sunday when he accidentally dropped the Italian equivalent of the F-bomb instead of a similar-sounding word he meant to use. “If each of us were to accumulate wealth not only for ourselves but to put at the service of others, in this f*** — in this case God’s providence would manifest itself in this gesture of solidarity,” he said. The pontiff apparently meant to use the word “caso,” which means “example” in Italian. Instead, he said “cazzo” — a simple mistake, but one that came along with wildly different context,...

Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel is reported to have become “really annoyed” about Russian President Vladimir Putin and has questioned whether he “was still in touch with reality.” The German mass circulation Bild newspaper wrote on Monday that during a telephone conversation she held with US President Barack Obama to discuss the growing crisis in Ukraine she complained that Mr Putin was “living in another world.” “She appears to have become really annoyed,” Bild remarked. The paper said it had gained inside information on the telephone exchange between the US and German leaders from American sources. The two leaders roundly criticised...

A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.[...]The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist. It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is...

Thought that might get your attention. Scott Gurney (check it out) created and produced “Duck Dynasty.” Also did some “homo-erotica” as the kids call it. It’s so true that God works in strange, strange ways, isn’t it? Boy, talk about self-loathing, huh? Don’t say Rodney Lee didn’t warn you a couple days ago about this “Reality” TV “scandal!!” -snip-The producer and creator of “Duck Dynasty” starred in a dark, homoerotic indie film about the gay porn industry called “The Fluffer.”

ROME (RNS) Pope Francis could be at risk from the ‘Ndrangheta organized crime organization, according to a leading anti-mob prosecutor who has himself been the target of threats from the mafia. Nicola Gratteri, 55, a state prosecutor in the southern Italian region of Calabria, where the ‘Ndrangheta is most active, said the pope’s effort to reform the church is making the ‘Ndrangheta “very nervous.” The organization is considered by experts in Italy to be the most dangerous, most unified and most difficult to penetrate mafia-type organization in the country. “I cannot say if the organization is in a position to...

One of the common critiques leveled at present-day Christianity is that it’s a religion full of hypocritical people. A new Barna Group study examines the degree to which this perception may be accurate. The study explores how well Christians seem to emulate the actions and attitudes of Jesus in their interactions with others. The research project was directed by David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group, in conjunction with John Burke, author of Mud and the Masterpiece, a book exploring the attitudes and actions of Jesus in all of his encounters. Assessing Christlikeness In this nationwide study of self-identified Christians, the...

The Vatican has just announced that, despite what Pope Francis said in his homily earlier this week, atheists are still going to hell. What a relief. For a brief moment there it was possible to imagine a brave new world of compassion, generosity and acceptance, not qualities we have come to associate with the Holy See. Said Pope Francis this week: 'The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!' That seemed like a pretty clear admission that people of...

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The Holy Father is full of surprises, born of true and faithful humility. On Wednesday he declared that all people, not just Catholics, are redeemed through Jesus, even atheists. However, he did emphasize there was a catch. Those people must still do good. In fact, it is in doing good that they are led to the One who is the Source of all that is good. In essence he simply restated the hope of the Church that all come to know God, through His Son Jesus Christ. Francis based his homily on the message...

Here is a link to the December 26, 2012, Bible study. Unlike many books in our world about God, the Bible has stories about a long list of the worst human failings, yet it does not glamorize or sensationalize those things. We look at Nathan's parable about David's adultery, and see that the whole Word is like that parable--it is ultimately far more personal and direct than we might at first like to think. Spirit and Life Bible Study on Facebook

Marriage Moats-New and Known Sent Friday, December 21, 2012 View as plaintext Marriage Moats Caring for Marriage My twins and I hauled up nine tins of ornaments from the basement, while my six foot son and his father let loose with a chain saw on the trunk of a tree. The grinding pain of a severed log blasted over the lilting soprano of the Hallelujah Chorus. Together the girls and I hung glass angels and woolly lambs, most of which are older than they are. There's the flannel snowmen we made in Brownies, and the pewter JOY from a friend...

The internal meaning of Joseph, Mary and Jesus tells how we can open our hearts to love todayThe birth of Jesus on earth represents His birth in our hearts. His birth in us is the creation of unselfish love in our hearts. We cannot create this; only He can do it. But before He can come to us we must do our part – through obedience to His law, shunning the evils forbidden in the Ten Commandments, and doing good to the best of our abilities. The story of His birth follows those actions in our lives. Here is the...

This Bible Study offers thoughts about how to move away from violence and mayhem, where the Lord is in all this, and what His life on earth did (and did not) do for us.I can field questions or comments here or feel free to use Spirit and Life Bible Study on Facebook

I'd like to pose a question to the defenders of the three 'person' Trinity:Matt 1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Luke 1:34 Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?" 35 And the angel answered and said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will...

Everything in the Old Testament history leads up to the crossing of the Jordan, and yet the way the story is told in Joshua 3 and 4 has major inconsistencies and problems. Is there another way to read it? Can the Bible be taken literally?

Many people read the Bible literally and feel very strongly that there's nothing more to it than that, and yet Jesus Himself says the whole Old Testament is about Him. How could that be?!? We ponder this through a bizarre story in which Caleb pleads with Joshua to be given a mountain inhabited by enemy giants in fortified cities (Joshua 14). Also see: Spirit And Life Bible Study on Facebook

If we generally agree that loosing our temper at someone means that we have some more growing up to do, why would we think that God does it?

The core topic is whether we are expected to understand Scripture or not, and how each of us is affected by the particular lens through which we view Scripture.

What's the difference between attacking from a zeal for the public good, and just being nasty? The primary concept behind this video was borrowed from Emanuel Swedenborg.

Scripture uses wonderfully tangible language to help explain abstract spiritual concepts with examples we know with our senses to demonstrate some very complex ideas. Blood is referenced quite often in the Bible because it is something with which we all have experience. We each live, breath, and have blood flowing through our veins, and so blood is something we recognize and understand. It is likewise with water. When someone describes something as fluid like water, we know what they mean because we visualize the properties of water. This type of scriptural imagery works to make the invisible become visible. A...

*On the front page of CNN today, there was an interesting article about the divide between the Obama Administration and the African American church. The author of the piece seems to be implying that black church opposition to gay marriage is hypocritical, in large part because the bible being quoted by Christians is the same one that promoted the institution of slavery. < snip > An even bigger secret is that there are millions of African Americans who are actually closet conservatives, and their thin loyalty to the Democratic agenda is one that is driven by Democratic support for civil...